BACKWARD GLANCES — Redwood dealer displays first Ford Mustang

See what was happening in Redwood Falls 50, 25, and 10 years ago this week.

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By Joshua Dixon, Staff Writer

Redwood Falls Gazette

By Joshua Dixon, Staff Writer

Posted Apr. 8, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Joshua Dixon, Staff Writer

Posted Apr. 8, 2014 at 12:01 AM

1964—50 years ago • A windstorm with gusts of up to 80 miles per hour hit the Redwood area, knocking down over 150 telephone poles, and blowing away a plane stored outdoors at the airport. • Colds, flus, and other illnesses resulted in 271 absentees from Redwood Falls public schools on Monday, more than 18 percent of the entire student population. • RFHS tudents David Block and Paul Schell visited Honeywell in the Twin Cities and came back with a carload of surplus equipment, leading the school to start an electronics club. The club’s first goals: building an amateur radio station, and maybe a computer. • The Redwood Falls Shriners Club announced it would sponsor hearing and vision tests for preschoolers before they start kindergarten. • The Redwood Falls Motor Company announced it would soon display a Ford Mustang, “widely hailed as an automobile industry ‘first’ in virtually a new field.” 1989—25 years ago • The police named Jean Koewler’s W. 3rd Street house as the town’s first “McGruff House”, a safe house for children who believe they’re being followed or harassed. • In other safety news, the school board approved a plan to allow the Reede Gray Elementary School sixth graders to act as a safety patrol at three intersections near the school. • With a new high school being planned, the school board officially dropped the idea of having the school library and Redwood Falls Public Library combine into one facility. The board did leave open the possibility of having a new school gymnasium be expanded into a fieldhouse that would be opened to the general public. • The Southwestern Minnesota Synod office building, built in the former Tersteeg’s grocery store on E. Broadway Street, was officially opened for business. • A task force for finding a new ambulance service for the city narrowed the choice down to three firms: Midwest Ambulance, Wicklund Ambulance, and North Medical Transportation Services. 2004—10 years ago • A grand total of zero Redwood County residents showed up at a public hearing to discuss ways for the county to handle discoveries of clandestine methamphetamine labs. • Molly Hoff, a physical therapist at ACMC clinic in Redwood Falls, had her thesis “Relative Balance of Serratus Anterior and Upper Trapezius Muscle Activity During Push-up Exercises” published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine. • Lewis and Caren Swoboda were named the Minnesota Inventors Congress Volunteers of the Year for 2003. • The Redwood County Recycling Center unveiled MEET, the Mobile Environmental Education Transport, built from a former race car trailer. • Gazette photographer Joshua Dixon, doing a story about how Marvin Neumann, 88, put together 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles at the rate of 20 or so pieces a day over a period of six to eight weeks, accidentally knocked Mr. Neumann’s most recent half-completed puzzle off the table. Mr. Neumann politely didn’t call the police.